The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has expressed confidence that there will be a court conviction once it filed the case of human trafficking against former congressman Mike Defensor in connection with the raided KTV bar and a hotel in Pasig City.

The raid was conducted two months ago and NBI director Melvin Matibag said ensuring that there is an airtight case that guarantees conviction is the reason why it took them so long to file the case.

He said the NBI will file the case against Defensor and other respondents on Friday, June 26, at the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office.

“We studied this thoroughly and it appears that Mike Defensor is included in the human trafficking that happened there,” said Matibag.

He was referring to the raid at the Chicago KTV and the adjacent Bleau Hotel which the NBI said are both owned and operated by the company owned by Defensor.

At least 54 women were rescued by the NBI during the raid in April. The victims were reportedly assigned as customer care specialists and allegedly charges huge sum of money per customer.

Based on the investigation, the operator of the KTV and hotel made some layout changes in the raided establishments to suit for human trafficking activities.

Matibag said they were able to secure engineering design of the establishments and it 

turned out that the Pasig City Engineering Office was not informed of the layout changes.

Such changes include another entrance to the Chicago KTV for easy access to customers, converting two offices of the establishments to become hotel rooms, and putting a stair for KTV customers to have access to the second floor where the Bleau Hotel is located.

And all along, Matibag said Defensor had been aware of those changes.

“That’s the reason why it took time for us. We are after reasonable certainty of conviction and with all of these pieces of evidence, we are very certain that there will be a conviction once we elevated this to court,” said Matibag.

POGO site?

In a press briefing, Matibag said the Chicago KTV and Bleau Hotel are located in a site that used to house a POGO or Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator. 

And the reason why a KTV and a hotel were set up in the area, according to Matibag, is to cater to Chinese customers when POGO was still legal.

In 2024, President Marcos ordered a ban on all POGOs in the country.

Not politics 

Matibag also emphasized that the camp of Defensor would have a hard time denying that they are involved in human trafficking due to the strong pieces of evidence that they have.

For instance, he said another proof that Defensor was aware of the operation of the Bleau Hotel was that its operator has been receiving instruction from the company where the former solon sits as a chairman.

Matibag said he personally saw this when he was talking to the staff of the hotel during the raid.

Defensor has been very vocal against the Marcos administration and for Matibag, the politically-motivated alibi will not work in this case.

“It’s difficult to claim that this is politics because the documents are stating that Mike Defensor knowingly and consciously entered a human trafficking business,” said Matibag.